Category Archives: Guest Writer

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.” (Genesis 1:24)

On a previous Creation Moments program, we told you about the elephant’s trunk with its 40,000 muscles. This is 70 times the number of muscles in your entire body! And that amazing trunk can bulldoze a tree or pick up a pin.

Where Did the Elephant Get Its Trunk? But why does an elephant have a trunk in the first place? For the answer to that question, we looked in a very old book called Natural Theology. It was written by William Paley in 1802. Yes, that’s the same William Paley who came up with the famous analogy of a person who finds a watch and deduces that the watch must have had a watchmaker.

According to Paley, “The short unbending neck of the elephant is compensated by the length and flexibility of his proboscis,” or trunk. “He could not have reached the ground without it.” In other words, the elephant needed such a trunk to reach food and water. But, then, a person could ask why does the elephant have such a short and unbending neck? Paley answers that he needed such a neck to support such a heavy head!

Obviously, the elephant was given its trunk by a very wise Creator. As Paley so well pointed out, if the elephant had waited millions of years for his trunk to grow, “how was the animal to subsist in the meantime… until the prolongation of its snout was completed?” It is a question that evolutionists today are still unable to answer.

Prayer:Heavenly Father, thank You that even the elephant’s trunk provides a witness to Your hand in creation! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

I.C.R.’s Days of Praise – Instantaneous Creation

BY HENRY M. MORRIS, PH.D. | THURSDAY, MAY 03, 2018

“Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.” (Psalm 148:5)

The concept of “fiat creation” is opposed by evolutionists and all who believe in the so-called geologic ages. Nevertheless, this is clearly the teaching of the Word of God, and God was there! Psalm 148 exhorts all the stars to praise the Lord, and then notes that, as soon as God spoke, they “were created.” Similarly, “by the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. . . . For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:6, 9).

It is worth noting that whenever the verbs “create” and “make” are used in reference to God’s work of creation, they are never in the present tense. God is not now creating or making stars or animals or people as theistic evolution requires; at the end of the six-day creation period, in fact, God “rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:3).

Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) Reinier Munguia

This is the teaching of the New Testament also. “The worlds [that is, the space/time cosmos, the ‘aeons’] were framed [not ‘are being framed’] by the word of God [not ‘by processes of stellar evolution’], so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear [not ‘out of pre-existing materials,’ as required by theories of chemical and cosmic evolution]” (Hebrews 11:3).

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself confirmed the doctrine of recent creation.

“From the beginning of the creation [not, that is, four billion years after the solar system evolved] God made them [Adam and Eve] male and female” (Mark 10:6).

Thus, those who believe in the geologic ages are rejecting both the biblical record and the authority of Jesus Christ in order to attain ephemeral acceptance by the ungodly. This is a poor exchange! HMM

What a great devotional because it expresses exactly what I believe about God’s Creation. God created our marvellous Avian Wonders which did not evolve from dinosaurs. They were created the day after the birds.

The Spring Snowstorm

By Emma Foster

Spring had arrived, and many robins had flown back to the north after a long winter. One of the robins, named Charlotte, had flown north to lay her eggs. After many long days of flying, Charlotte eventually landed in a small tree in the backyard of a large brick house.

Flower buds began to peek out of the green grass. The sun shone through the tree branches, making Charlotte very warm while she built her nest. When she finished building her nest out of twigs and leaves, Charlotte settled down and laid her first egg.

Charlotte sat patiently on her egg, leaving only to search for some worms to eat. One day when she came back with a worm, the wind picked up and it began to grow really cold. Charlotte sat back down on her egg to keep it warm.

The next morning Charlotte woke up to see snow on the ground. The snow covered all of the flowers, and the wind picked up even more. More snow began to pile up on the ground until Charlotte couldn’t see any grass. She knew that even though the storm was worsening she couldn’t find another place farther south to live because her egg had already been laid.

The next morning, a large black dog hobbled into the backyard. He was very old, and the snow felt good on his old hips. The people who lived in the house called him Jerry, and many times the man who lived in the house had to carry Jerry inside. Charlotte noticed that Jerry didn’t want to come in on his own.

Jerry shed a lot of his black hair, which would fall and stick in the snow. Charlotte grew very cold, and was afraid that her egg would freeze. Suddenly she had an idea. Quickly swooping down, Charlotte picked up some of Jerry’s hair and stuffed it into her nest to keep her egg warm.

At one point Charlotte became very hungry again, but she knew it would be difficult to find any worms. She thought her egg would be all right surrounded by Jerry’s hair. After some digging in the cold snow, Charlotte was able to find one worm, and then she quickly returned to her egg, but when she came to her nest the egg had disappeared.

Charlotte looked everywhere for her blue egg, realizing it must have been blown out of the nest by the strong wind. She saw Jerry sitting in the snow, but she didn’t see her egg anywhere near the tree. Jerry began barking, and Charlotte realized that he had something hiding in his fur. Jerry had found the egg at the bottom of the tree, and had decided to keep it warm in his fur. Charlotte thanked him by tweeting and
carefully followed him as he put the egg in his mouth and got on his back legs to put the egg into the nest.

The snow began to melt, and after a while, the flowers began to grow again. Charlotte’s egg hatched her chick, who eventually learned how to fly. That next spring, Charlotte came back to the same tree in the backyard to lay another egg. Thankfully, this year it didn’t

Lee’s Addition:

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17 KJV)

Another great story from Emma. This time the friendly dog came to the rescue during trouble. It is always nice when others are able to assist us when problems arise. Thankfully, Charlotte was able to see her egg hatch and grow up.

Morris was a small house finch who lived in the sunny state of Florida. He had built a tiny nest for himself and lived in a small forest away from busy streets and people. The only road that was close by was a highway leading to a large building that was about half a mile away. Morris could barely see the building from the top of a high tree in which he lived. Every day Morris would watch incredibly large birds fly to and from the building, but he had no idea what they were. The building was in fact an airport, and the large birds were airplanes, but Morris did not know this.

Eventually, the weather became really hot as spring turned into summer. Morris grew tired of the heat and decided to find a new place to stay, at least for the summer. Morris flew out of his nest into the air and began to search for a cooler place to live.

He slowly reached the giant building in the hot sun. Looking inside, Morris noticed trees that seemed comfortable in the cool air. He tried to find a place to fly in, but every part of the building seemed to be made of windows. After trying to get inside for a long time Morris caught sight of a shuttle zipping inside the building. He followed the shuttle inside into the refreshingly cool air and instantly flew toward a tall tree that stood in the sunlight.

The tree gave Morris a broad view of a wide space were many people were eating. At first, he thought we would be able to handle the noisy people, but as the sun rose higher into the sky more people began to arrive and the building grew louder. Morris tried to ignore it, knowing when the air became colder he could fly back to his nest.

After a few minutes of trying to pull up some branches and twigs to make a new nest, Morris realized that the “tree” was fake, which made him slightly annoyed. Fortunately, he could still make his new home cozy because it was cool and comfortable sitting in the branches and watching the people.

Morris began to grow hungry and decided that he should find some food, though it didn’t look as if there were any worms around. He swooped down to where several people were eating and picked up a few dry crumbs from off the ground. After eating a few pieces Morris was still hungry so he decided to fly back outside to search for some worms.

It felt nice to be away from the noise, but as Morris flew back the way he came, he accidentally flew into the shuttle that carried passengers back and forth. He couldn’t get out before the doors closed. He flew up and down in a frenzy, searching for a way out. People around him screamed, terrified, until finally he was able to fly back outside.

House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) by Raymond Barlow

Instead of searching for worms Morris flew straight back to his nest and stayed there for the rest of the day even though it was still hot. That night Morris’s surroundings became cool and Morris was able to sleep peacefully despite the chaos of the morning.

The next morning Morris stayed in his nest, deciding that, despite the heat, he would rather be home than anywhere else. He remembered how quiet it was even with the big birds flying overhead, and decided that no matter how hot it became, he would never fly back into that building again

Lee’s Addition:

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5 KJV)

Emma has treated us to another interesting story. Not sure if a bird ever went looking for air conditioning, but it sounds logical. But, like us, we are better off being right where the Lord has placed us and with the provisions that have been provided by Him. Thanks again, Emma.

Before the heavy snow fell, Reginald and the turkeys settled into their fortress. Reginald knew now that he had to start looking for a Christmas tree. When the snow lightened, Reginald decided he should find a tree. One morning he left in search of the perfect Christmas tree, accompanied by Oliver.

Reginald and Oliver traveled for some time, dragging themselves through the snow. Oliver insisted on wearing his army helmet because he was afraid they would run into hunters. He followed Reginald through the snow, occasionally having to be pulled out of the snow with Reginald’s help.

After walking a little way, Reginald and Oliver found a wide open space near a circle of trees. In the sunlight, a small tiny pine tree stood in front of most of the other trees, and Reginald thought it would be the perfect tree for Christmas that year. The trunk was just right for Reginald and Oliver to be able to push the tree over since they had nothing to cut it with.

Tiny Tree

Just as they were about to head for the tree, Reginald noticed some hunters lurking in some bushes nearby. Oliver and Reginald hid and attempted to form a plan. Reginald decided that he would go off and distract the hunters so Oliver could knock the tree over and take it back to the fortress.

Reginald left Oliver by the bushes and walked a few yards away. He began gobbling, hoping that the hunters would hear him and try to see where he was. Reginald quickly hid in the bushes near a river where he wouldn’t be seen and waited for the hunters to come look for him. Eventually, he heard footsteps as the hunters moved closer.

Once the hunters had gone Oliver quickly ran to the tree and began pushing on it until it toppled over. Unfortunately, when Oliver pushed the tree down it began rolling forward, dragging Oliver into its branches until it fell into the nearby river and began drifting away. Reginald watched Oliver fall into the river and quickly ran after him, shaking his head and hoping the hunters couldn’t see him. He caught up to Oliver and tried to pull him to shore, but Oliver only dragged him onto the tree, causing Reginald to get soaked.

Oliver and Reginald floated down the river on the tree for a very long time until they ran into a rock, which kept the tree from drifting farther down the river. Oliver began gobbling loudly, but Reginald quickly told him to be quiet. Fortunately, they had floated far away from the hunters toward their fortress.

Reginald and Oliver quickly dragged the tree up onto land and carried it back to the fortress. The turkeys had already begun making ornaments and stringing berries by the time they arrived back at the fortress. After they set up the tree, Reginald and the turkeys hung the ornaments and sang some turkey carols quietly. As for the hunters, they searched all day for Reginald and Oliver, but eventually had to go home because more snow had begun to fall. Again, it was ham for Christmas.

“Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever; And rescued us from our enemies, For His mercy endures forever; Who gives food to all flesh, For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.” (Psalms 136:23-26 NKJV)

Well, Oliver has again given Reginald his challenge. This time, their need for a Christmas tree provides the adventure. We trust you have been enjoying the various adventures through the pen of Ms. Emma Foster. Emma, you have written another enjoyable tale for us. Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you.

Thanksgiving was beginning to draw near and Reginald knew it was time for the turkeys to trek through the forest to their fortress, which they had built years before to keep safe from hunters. The turkeys were hoping to travel in a few days, but something about the weather began to concern Reginald. He decided it was best to check to see what the weather would be like when they would be travelling.

Reginald had to walk to a nearby farmer’s house to see the weather because the farmer that lived there always had the weather on the television early every morning because he was always concerned about the weather. Sometimes Reginald would leave the turkeys and go watch the weather so he would know if bad weather was headed to the forest. Reluctantly, Reginald let Oliver come along so that Oliver wouldn’t get into any mischief.

Reginald and Oliver hurried through the forest and across a field to where a lonely house stood. Reginald warned Oliver to be as quiet as he could when they reached the farm because there was a chance the farmer wouldn’t mind having them for Thanksgiving dinner like the other hunters. Oliver cautiously followed Reginald to a chicken coop, which stood near the window of the living room. Reginald climbed into the coop through the chicken wire by cutting part of the wire with a sharp piece of wood he had brought and was pulling it back to make a hole. Oliver attempted to crawl through, but some of his feathers got caught. Reginald told him to calm down and to stop gobbling so the farmer wouldn’t hear him. After pulling him out, Reginald quickly blended in with the chickens, hurried to the window, then peered inside to see what the weather was like. The television was on, and the weather report stated that a record amount of heavy snowfall would be coming before Thanksgiving.

Reginald knew they would have to hurry to make it to the fortress so he turned around to tell Oliver to run back and warn the turkeys. When he looked back Oliver had gotten his head stuck in the chicken coop and the chickens had gathered around him and had started clucking while Oliver’s army helmet (worn to protect them from hunters) clanged against the walls of the coop. Reginald shook his head and dragged him out, telling him to tell the turkeys about the snowfall and that they needed to build sleds out of pieces of wood from trees that they could pull with roots to their fortress.

Oliver raced back to the turkeys while Reginald stayed behind to watch the weather. Eventually, the farmer turned the news off and Reginald had to hurry back to the turkeys. When he got back, the turkeys had already begun building their sleds, which would be used to carry the elderly and baby turkeys through the snow that was already falling. All of the turkeys were present except Oliver.

When Reginald asked about Oliver, the turkeys said he had gone back for him. Reginald shook his head and impatiently walked all the way back through the snow to the farmhouse. Oliver was standing by the window, watching a gameshow on the television. Reginald shook his head again and told Oliver to come back with him to the turkeys.

The turkeys had finished building the sleds when Reginald and Oliver returned, and lots of snow was now on the ground. Using the sleds, the turkeys were able to arrive at their fortress before the snowbanks grew too high and the winds were too strong. They were able to spend their Thanksgiving nice and warm underground, while yet again the hunters had to hunt for turkeys in other woods.

“…but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:25b-26 KJV)

Looks like Reginald and Oliver have returned in time for another Thanksgiving adventure. Thanks again, Emma, for providing an entertaining tale, for a favorite holiday.

Albert and the Midterm by Emma Foster

Once there was a parrot named Albert who lived with a family who had a son called James. James had
just graduated from high school, and summer had just ended. Albert, whose cage was in James’s room,
could tell that every night before he went to bed James was getting more and more nervous.

James left for his first day of classes early Monday morning. Albert waited patiently by his cage all
morning, for James to come home. When James came home, he took the time to tell Albert all about his
day. Because Albert was an African Grey Parrot, Albert understood nearly everything James said and
was able to repeat a lot of his words back to him.

After a week, James came home with his first homework assignment. He was taking psychology, and as
he worked on his homework Albert watched him write down the answers and read through the textbook.
James made sure to highlight the important stuff he needed to know for the test.

After a while, Albert started to learn some important terms in psychology. He would often open up the
book whenever James left his room and read through several sections. Eventually, Albert began
squawking out different words that James had to learn for his upcoming test.

As the first test for James’s class drew closer, he became more and more nervous about it. He started
writing down terms on notecards to memorize and highlighting different sections in the book that he
thought would be on the test. Albert watched intently, following along and moving the flashcards around
with his claws. Every now and then Albert would shout out some of the terms.

Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) WikiC

Suddenly James had an idea. He decided that it would be a good idea if Albert quizzed him using the
flashcards. Because Albert was able to say the words, he began squawking out everything James had
written down on the notecards. Albert and James practiced for the entire weekend because James’s test
was on Monday.

Albert waited all Monday morning, wondering if James would do well on his test. Albert had gone over
all of the terms with James so much that he was sure James would do well, but he couldn’t help still
feeling nervous.

James had to wait a few days before he received his test results. When he came home he told Albert he
had gotten at A. In fact, he had received the best grade in the class. He told Albert that his professor had
been very impressed and that he had been surprised when James had told him that Albert had helped him
study. For part of the class period, James’s professor had explained how African Grey Parrots were a very
smart bird because of how many words they could learn, and that they had been studied many times in
psychology. At one point, James’s psychology professor allowed James to bring Albert to class so he
could elaborate on how smart African Grey Parrots were.

From then on Albert helped James study for all of his classes, and James was able to do well in all of
them because of how much he studied. Though sometimes Albert would get carried away by
squawking out the terms in the middle of the night.

Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) by Dan

“For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; …, and him that hath no helper.” (Psalms 72:12 KJV)

“My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” (Psalms 121:2 KJV)

Thanks, Emma for another truly interesting tale. We look forward to each new adventure from your pen ,with great anticipation.

Wikipedia said, “The species is common in captivity and is regularly kept by humans as a companion parrot, prized for its ability to mimic human speech, which makes it one of the most popular avian pets. An escaped pet in Japan was returned to his owner after repeating the owner’s name and address.”

One day a seagull named Shelly decided that she should fly to the beach to lay her very first egg. Shelly had previously been living near a seaside port beside a large white beach, but she felt it was not the proper place to lay an egg, especially when it was going to be her very first one. Leaving the nest that she had built on top of a pole, Shelly flew across the beach onto a giant rock.

After resting on top of the rock, Shelly surveyed the beach, searching for sticks and dirt with which to build her nest. Looking around, however, Shelly noticed that there were several children building houses out of sand. Thinking that it was a wonderful idea, Shelly promptly decided to build her first nest out of sand.

Flying near the waves, Shelly scooped up some wet sand with her beak until she made a small pile. She spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to get all of the sand on top of the rock. Fortunately, after glancing around, Shelly found a small plastic shovel that no one was currently using. She had seen a few children use a shovel to help them scoop up sand, so Shelly knew how to use it.

“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:” (Matthew 7:26 NKJV)

After shovelling enough sand onto the rock, Shelly dropped the shovel and began meshing the sand together in a big pile, finally sitting on it so when she hatched her egg it wouldn’t fall out.

Shelly’s egg hatched a few days later. She was so excited she quickly found some food to celebrate then came back to her egg. While she was on the hunt for some food, storm clouds gathered and rain began to sprinkle. Quickly flying back to her nest, Shelly was horrified to find that her nest had dissolved and her egg was gone.

Shelly frantically began her search in the sand, but the rain began beating down so hard that Shelly was forced to stop her search and find shelter. When the rain subsided, Shelly tried to search some more, but was so anxious that she completely forgot which rock she had nested on.

Shelly searched the beach until it was too dark to see anything. Finally she had to rest in some shrubbery until morning, though she barely slept because she was so worried.

Mew Gull (Larus canus) by Daves BirdingPix

The next day was bright and sunny, and at once Shelly began her search. She noticed that there were many more people at the beach than yesterday, which made her even more worried. Shelly flew around in circles, trying to spot her egg and hoping that it hadn’t washed away into the sea.

As Shelly flew closer to the ground, she noticed a group of children building a sand castle. One of the children scooped a huge pile of sand, and Shelly could see a huge lump in the sand. When the child put the clump of sand onto the sand castle, the egg rolled down.

Seagull carrying egg to safety

Shelly swooped down and snatched her egg out of the sand with her mouth. She flew away happily, even though she could hear the children screaming and laughing behind her. Thankful that her egg was safe, Shelly immediately decided to build a nest made out of twigs and branches like the other birds. From then on, whenever Shelly hatched an egg, she made sure that her egg was hatched in a proper nest instead of in the sand.

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27 NKJV)

Another great story by Emma. Thank you again for reminding us to heed wise instructions.

The Great Graduation Ceremony ~ by Emma Foster

“A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.” (Proverbs 17:8 KJV)

Once there was a family of common wood pigeons that lived deep in a large forest. The father and mother, David and Susan, had three children, Billy, Louisa, and Will. The children had not been in the nest for very long, but were now almost old enough to fly from the nest to make their own homes.

One day when Susan was flying through the forest searching for worms, she met an owl named Winston who was casually sitting on a branch. Because Winston was considered the wisest owl in the entire forest, all of the birds and other animals came to him for advice on how to solve their problems. When Susan explained to Winston that her children were nearly old enough to begin flying to find their own place to live, Winston immediately suggested holding a graduation ceremony.

Susan, confused on what exactly a graduation ceremony entailed, waited patiently for most of the afternoon as Winston slowly explained every detail of what a graduation ceremony was, what must be done, and the reason for it. Susan almost wished she hadn’t said anything because Winston had a history of being extremely long-winded. From what Susan gathered, however, graduation ceremonies were for people who had reached a certain point in their lives. They left a place called ‘school’ where they learned everything they needed to know before being given a piece of paper and going to another place to learn. Susan thought it was almost like the way her children would fly from the nest.

Susan quickly flew back home and told David everything that Winston had said, and David thought it was a great idea. They began to prepare for the ceremony by inviting all of the birds and animals in the woods, though they were informed that the turkeys couldn’t attend because hunters had been spotted and the turkeys were not taking any chances.

That Saturday, Winston flew over to a large nearby branch while all of the pigeons and several other birds and animals gathered around to listen. Winston’s speech lasted a very long time, and by the time he was done Billy, Louisa, Will, and most of the others were fast asleep.

David and Susan quickly woke their children up so they could rise for their diploma. David and Susan both decided that the perfect substitute for a diploma would be the biggest worms they could find. Winston called out each of their children’s names one by one, and, while the rest of the birds and animals all cheered, Billy, Louisa, and Will took their worms. The ceremony was officially over. Everyone had a party afterwards with all of the birds bringing worms and all the squirrels volunteering to bring nuts and berries for the others. Some of the animals even gave the young birds a few graduation presents. One kind squirrel brought the largest nut he could find, while a raccoon brought an assortment of leaves she had found that would look nice in a nest.

Bok Santuary Squirrel by Lee

When Billy, Louisa, and Will began to prepare to fly away to make their new nests, Susan tried not to cry. Finally, all of the guests left and her children flew away. She hoped they would come home to visit soon, and that they would not fly too far.

Lee’s Addition:

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit….But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” (1 Corinthians 12:4, 11 KJV)

Our young writer, Emma Foster, has been growing up and has just graduated from High School. We trust you have enjoyed her Bird Tales over the last 5 1/2 years. She started writing for us on the blog in January of 2012. Her stories have continually improved as she has matured. I still chuckle over her first story of the parrot, Mrs. Patterson’s Parrot, that was too large to come home in the car.

About a week ago, I asked Emma to write a story about birds graduating. This was her answer to the request. I wanted to honor her for her graduation and the wish her well as she starts college and the future.

Now that she has graduated, she plans to work on a degree in writing. She has also assured us that she will continue to send more Bird Tales for us to enjoy. I look forward to those and will continue praying for her as she enters this new phase of her life.

Pete’s Soccer Game ~ by Emma Foster

Once there was a duck named Pete who was taking his usual morning route around the pond in which he lived. It was Saturday and the weather was cool and breezy. On this morning Pete noticed a large group of people gathered inside a huge patch of soft green grass. Most of the people were children and they all wore matching colored uniforms.

Pete grew curious and decided to flap up and peer through the fence to see what was going on. All around Pete people were cheering as the children ran back and forth with some kind of black and white ball. At one point, Pete watched one of the children kick the black and white ball into a small net and he listened to everyone cheer ecstatically. A man wearing a black and white-striped shirt blew a whistle loudly and the team members who wore the same green uniform as the boy who scored the goal ran back to the bench cheering. Apparently, whatever game they were playing was over and Pete guessed that the green team had won something.

Pete became very interested in this game and how it worked. He decided to stay and watch another game to understand the rules. The more Pete watched from the sidelines the more interesting the game became. Eventually, he realized that the name of the game was soccer, the black and white ball was called a soccer ball, and the players could not touch the ball with their hands.

Upward Soccer 4-5 yr olds.

As Pete looked around, carefully taking in every detail, he noticed a shed that stood near the edge of the field. Glancing inside, Pete found an assortment of cones, soccer balls, and uniforms. Pete automatically decided to get into the spirit of things and pulled a green uniform out of a box and put it on. Shoving his head into the shirt, Pete wriggled and pushed his head through one of the arm sleeves. This seemed to work, but he found it difficult. Despite this difficulty, he made sure not to touch the ball with his wings just like the players.

Eventually, Pete waddled out of the shed in his green uniform with the soccer ball. He attempted to kick it again but only succeeded in rolling it onto the middle of the field. Pete flew after it to try to bring the ball back. Suddenly the referee blew his whistle and stopped the game. Embarrassed, Pete kicked the ball as best he could off the field. All of the players, however, were impressed that Pete was able to kick it so well because he was a duck. Since the team with green uniforms was short a player they were able to convince the referee to let Pete play even though his uniform was not quite right. The referee called Pete over, and Pete happily flapped back onto the field to finish the game.

Pete did his best to waddle back and forth and catch up with the other players. Every now and then he was able to kick the ball to another player. The game was tied because each team had scored one goal.

As time began to run out and there were only a few minutes left, one of the players suddenly passed the ball to Pete. Because Pete was close to the other team’s goal he quickly waddled down the field with the ball, trying not to fly.

Once Pete reached the goal he did his best to kick the ball. He kicked the ball as hard as he could and was surprised when the ball sailed over the goalie’s head into the net. The entire crowd cheered for Pete because he had helped the green team win the game. Pete had never been so happy until that moment when he scored the goal, and the team was very grateful that Pete had been there to help them. From then on, Pete watched every single game that the people played, and always wore the green uniform he had found in the shed just in case the green team was short a player.

“… to be ready to every good work,” (Titus 3:1b KJV)

Lee’s Addition:

Another great story from Emma Foster. I felt since our Duck Pete was small, he may have played with our youngest Upper Soccer team.

You might enjoy these videos I found to help show off Emma’s Soccer Duck.

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

Imagine a celebration of Siberian husky sled dogs, harnessed together as a racing team, guided by their human driver (called a “musher”), zooming across frigid snow trails in rural Alaska: this is what happens in a commemorative festival/event called the IDITAROD TRAIL RACE. (See the YouTube video footage below.)

The Iditarod is an outdoors reenactment-like celebration of dogsled mushing, to remember the heroic relay race – through day and night, blizzard winds, snow, and ice – to save human lives, during a life-or-death crisis in January-February AD1925, when a highly contagious diphtheria plague struck like a serial killer, menacing the almost-unreachable population of Nome, Alaska.

Lily’s New Camera ~ by Emma Foster

In a large zoo in the center of a city, a Galah the zookeepers affectionately called Lily lived contentedly in the parrot/cockatoo exhibit. Lily was very glad to be living in such a nice zoo. One of her favorite activities was meeting all of the people who would pass by the parrot exhibit every day. The crowds that came to the exhibit always noticed Lily because of her bright pink feathers.

“Lily” curious about camera

One day a man with a large camera stopped by the exhibit to take some pictures of the tropical birds for a magazine. Curious to see what he was holding, Lily flew off the tree branch she was sitting on and landed directly on top of the camera without any fear at all. The man holding the camera and the people beginning to surround him laughed as Lily pecked at the buttons in curiosity. All of a sudden Lily pressed a large button near the top of the camera and took a picture.

“Lily” Hopping on the camera

The man holding the camera was surprised at how well the picture turned out and he decided to set the camera down carefully to see what Lily would do next. Lily, however, had no idea what happened when she pressed the button, but she found great enjoyment in pressing it.

Next, the man picked the camera back up and moved it back and forth as Lily kept pressing the same button to take pictures. Eventually, Lily had created an entire series of photographs that the man and the crowd thought were actually quite good.

Impressed by Lily’s talent, the man decided to take the pictures to the head zookeeper. The man, who called himself Steve Watts, explained that he was a photographer for a local magazine and told the zookeeper that Lily had taken the pictures rather than himself. The zookeeper was happy to hear that Steve was going to put the pictures in the next edition of the magazine. Lily was exited too, even though she had no idea what a magazine was.

“Lily” the Galah and Dan (a/k/a Steve Watts)

Steve Watts

A few days later, a crowd even larger than normal gathered around the parrot exhibit to see Lily. Lily was surprised at the amount of people, especially when all of the people clustered around her as the zookeeper brought her out of the exhibit on his arm.

Lily – Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) Up Close

Most of the people in the crowd were holding up the magazines that they had bought which contained some of the pictures Lily had taken, including one she had taken when she had placed her face in front of the lens. Lily was happy to know that everyone loved her pictures, and looked forward to being able to take more. Fortunately Steve came to the zoo often. He eventually gave some of Lily’s pictures to a local art gallery, which brought increased business to the zoo. People enjoyed coming to the zoo to see Lily. From then on, the parrot exhibit was the busiest section of the zoo. Lily loved the crowds of people, and became one of the most contented bird in the entire zoo.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (Philippians 4:11 KJV)

Lee’s Addition:

And now you have the birds view of Dan’s Galah encounter. Or, at least, this is Emma’s Version of the incident. Emma, we love it. Thanks you so much for keeping us entertained with your constantly improving tales of birds from their Creator. [Her parents, I, and others have been encouraging her to write about this event.]